



Book mgfe 



REMARKS 



OF 



/• y 



MR. DURKEE, OF WISCONSIN, 



ON THE 



LECOMPTON CO'NSPIRACY, 



IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES, 



MARCH QO, 1858. 



WASHINGTON, D. C. 

BUELL & BLANCHARD, PRINTERS. 
1858. 



SPEECH OF ME. DURKEE. 



After the many and able speeches which have been made on this 
Kansas conspiracy in both Houses of Congress, it would be idle in me 
to suppose that I could say anything calculated to change a single vote 
on the final issue. But there is a higher tribunal to which the friends 
of " free Kansas " may be called upon to take their appeal — I mean the 
tribunal of public opinion ; and it is in anticipation of this contingenc}', 
as not unlikely to be forced upon us, that I desire to add my testimony 
against this monstrous iniquity. Too great indifference is still mani- 
fested throughout the country in regard to this disturbing element, which 
more than ever threatens the integrity and perpetuity of the Union ; and 
until the whole people become aroused to the true nature of this question, 
it is better that the discussion go on. 

The honorable Senator from Connecticut thinks Slavery might be left 
entirely out of view in this discussion. Why, sir, it is the very gist of 
the question on which we are about to vote, made such by the advocates 
of the Lecompton conspiracy. Not one of them, on this floor or else- 
where, will deny that it was to prop Slavery, and strengthen its influ- 
ence, and increase its power in the Government, that this Lecompton 
scheme was originally concocted. It is too late to plead blindness in 
this respect. The avowals of Southern statesmen and Southern Legis- 
latures and Conventions, to say nothing of Southern newspapers, have 
been too frank to leave any doubts on this subject. No, no, Mr. Pres- 
ident ; it is the Slavery question we are discussing, and that, too, in its 
widest sense. It is that same question, notwithstanding partisans in 
National Conventions assembled have, over and over again, " rct-olvcd " 
it out of Congress ! And, sir, but for the nationalization of Shivery, 
which the framers of the Constitution intended to be a tcmpdr.iry and 
local institution pureh', our Federative Union might have remained a 
political Eden to this day. It is the only clement of national discord 



•whicli remains to haunt us ; and it is because the enemies of Freedom 
have persisted in transferring this satanic question from a distant Ter- 
ritory to the National Capitol, that this new contest has arisen, and 
discord been invoked into our other-\viso peaceful councils. 

Not only have "we the Slavery question before us, but we have it "^ 
its most startling and odious form. Here, in this Lecompton Constitu- 
tion, and its famous — shall I not rather say infamous — "schedule," we 
have not simply the question Avhether the colored race have any rights 
which the white race arc bound to respect, but we have the strange and 
startling question propounded, whether white men there have any rights 
which white men here, in this Senate Chamber, are bound to respect? 
Sir, this treasonable Constitution, whicli the majority of this body seem 
resolved to force upon the people of Kansas, is nothing more nor less 
than an attempt to enslave the freemen of a vrhole Territory at a single 
blow ! This is, indeed, Slavery grown to manhood, and now grasping 
for empire. 

Mr. President, disguise the matter as we may, if we pass the Lecomp- 
ton Constitution, and force upon Kansas an organic law disfran- 
chising a large majority of its inhabitants, it will be worse than mockery 
to prate of the inalienable guarantees of life, liberty, and the pursuit of 
happiness. Nor can we fail, as a people, to suffer for the wrong we 
may thus allow, in utter disregard of all sense of justice, and in direct 
opposition to every principle of our Constitution. We shall assuredly 
realize, in the sequel, the truth so often proclaimed by eminent and pa- 
triotic statesmen of our own and other countries, that we cannot enslave 
a part of the community without, in the end, enslaving the whole. And 
history, if it has made more clear any one fact than another, has taught 
us that in popular Govcnnnents, Avhere power is constantly shifting, the 
majority may not safely wrong the minority, nor the accidentally pow- 
erful those who happen for the time to be powerless. 

Not that the white people of Kansas arc to be bought and sold as 
slaves, but they will be deprived of tlie right of self-government — a 
tyranny Avhicli our forefathers considered too odious to be endured. The 
majority will be subjected to the will and pleasure of ihe minority; and 
what that will and pleasure may be, if sustained by Federal bayonets, 
can be gathered from the letter and spirit of this whole Lecompton ar- 
rangement. Patrick Henr}^, in his famous revolutionary speech, laid it 
down as a safe rule, that we may judge of future conduct by the past. 
If this be true, what arc we to expect of the Pro-Slavery party in 
Kansas ? To answer this question, sir, we have only to turn to the 
code they dared enact when in legislative authority — that code which 
honorable Senators, who now propose to invest them with this new engine 



of tyranny, confessed a disgrace to the country and to the age. Familiar 
as Senators are T.-ith these infamous provisions, suiFer me to read an 
extract or two. Here, sir, we have the twentieth section : 

" If any free person, by speaking or by writing, assert or maintain 
' that persons have not the right to liold shaves in this Territory, or 
' shall introduce into this Territory, print, publish, write, circulate, or 
* cause to be introduced into this Territory, written, printed, published, 
' or circulated, in this Territory, any book, paper, magazine, pamphlet, 
' or circular, containing any denial of the right of persons to hold slaves 
' in this Territory, such person shall be deemed guilty of felony, and 
' punished by imprisonment at hard labor for a term of not less than 
' two years." 

Now, sir, let us see what is the punishment provided for those who 
should disregard this provision. I will read it: 

" Persons found guiUy of violating the above enactments shall bo 
' deemed convicts ; and shall immediately, under the charge of the 
' keeper of the jail or public prison, or under the charge of such person 
' as the keeper of the jail or public prison may select, be put to hard 
' labor, as in the first section of this act specified, [to wit, on the streets, 
' roads, public buildings, or other public works of the Territory — sec- 
' tion 1, page 146;] and such keeper, or other person having charge of 
^ such convict, shall cause such convict, while engaged at such labor, to 
' be securely confined by a chain, six feet in length, of not less than 
' four-sixteenths nor more than three-eighths of an inch link, with a 
' round ball of iron, of not less than four nor more than six inches in 
' diameter, attached ; whicli chain shall be securely fastened to the ankle 
' of such convict with a strong lock and key ; and such keeper, or other 
' person having charge of said convict, may, if necessary, confine such 
' convict, while so engaged at hard labor, by other chains, or other 
' means, in his discretion, so as to keep such convict secure, and prevent 
' his escape ; and when there shall be two or more convicts under the 
' charge of such keeper or other pei'son, such convicts shall be fastened 
' together by strong chains, with locks and keys, during the time such 
' convicts shall be engaged in hard labor without the Avails of any jail 
' or prison." — See 22d chapter, 2d section, 147^' page, Kansas Code. 

And yet, sir. Senators are willing to clothe with new authority the 
very men who dared pass such laws. Shame, eternal shame, be upon 
us for even the momentary entertainment of such a purpose ! Should 
this law pass, then assuredly Avill the memorable words sent forth by the 
Richmond Enquirer, during tlie recent Presidential campaign, be en- 
dorse 1 by this so-called Democratic Administration. I allude, sir, 
to the declaration by that print, " that Slavery is right, natural, and 



' necessary, and does not depend upon difference of complexion. The 
' laws of the slave States justify the holding of white men in hondage." 
We find in these " bogus " laws still further evidence that the people 
of Kansas would become the slaves of Slavery, in the infamous pro- 
vision making slave-hounds of freemen ! If this does not come inside 
the Slavery question, I am at a loss to know what would. And might 
not even worse be expected of this strong partisan Pro-Slavery minority, 
should it be invested Avith State authority, and backed by the army ? 

Mr. President, it is painful to believe that the Chief Magistrate" of 
this great Republic would allow himself to become a party to these 
treasonable movements. Yet we cannot shut our eyes to the fact that 
he is lending all tlie influence of his position to carry out this project. 
Is it a part of the price that secured his nomination? Of him I 
will let speak a distinguished Democrat, the first Governor of Kansas, 
and one who had always enjoyed the friendship and confidence of Mr. 
Buchanan. It was addressed to the New York Evening Post. I ask 
for it the careful attention of Senators. He says : 

" I might go on with this catalogue, and enumerate other indications, 
if necessary, showing that the prevailing tone of the party is hostile 
to Kansas ; but I consider it only necessary to add, that what I have 
said relates to the North. The South, where the great mass of the 
party is to be found, makes no pretension, as a whole, to the advocacy 
of anything but pure border ruffianism. 

." What, then, have the Free-State men of Kansas to expect from a 
Democratic Administration, even if presided over by Mr. Buchanan 1 
If he could be left to act upon his own impulses, unaffected by exter- 
nal influences, and free from all pledges and obligations, expressed 
and implied, the case would be very different. But, unfortunately, 
this is not so. His election would rightfully be considered a decision 
against us, whatever may be his own private feelings. His offices at 
Washington, in Kansas, and elsewhere, would necessarily, to a large 
extent, be filled with our enemies. His information would come 
through a distorted medium; and, lastly, he could not aid us without 
having made up his mind to be abandoned ami warred upon bj' his 
OAvn party. The South would charge him with violating his pledges, 
and turn upon him with the bitterest hostility ; and at least a portion 
of the Northern Democracy would follow their example. He would 
thus be left without a party to support his Administration, unless he 
should cast himself into the arras of the Republicans. We cannot, 
it seems to me, either ask or expect him to do this upon a question 
where party lines are so plainly drawn before this election. Like all 
other men in the same situation, he must obey the party sentiment on 



' which he is elected. That there are Democrats in Pennsylvania 
' who are full of indignation against the conduct of the South in regard 
' to Kansas, I am well aware ; and that they would use their influence 
' to redress her wrongs, I am well satisfied ; but they are too few, in 
' proportion to the whole party of the Union, to sustain his adminis- 
' tration in a war with his party. They have as yet been unable to 
' make their opinions appear and be felt in the party, and of course 
' cannot do so hereafter. I honor their good intentions, but I cannot 
' believe in their power. 

" I repeat, that I have been forced to these conclusions after no slight 
' struggle with my feelings and inclinations. Should Mr. Buchanan be 
' elected, and his administration be different from what my judgment 
' compels me to believe, I shall give it my cordial approbation, and my 
' feeble though willing support. As I believe now, I must regard the 
' Democratic party as fully committed to Southern sectionalism, toward 
' which, for some time past, it has been rapidly tending; and I quit it, 
' well assured that my dut}^ to my country demands at my hands the 
' sacrifice of personal feelings." 

Sir, could anything be more truly prophetic than these words 1 And 
hei'e I must express my surprise that Governors Geary and Walker, 
and Secretary Stanton, did not exercise the foresight of their predeces- 
sor in this " grave-yard of Governors." Had they foreseen the events 
so plainly "casting their shadows before," what disappointment they 
might have been spared ! what mortification and chagrin ! The Presi- 
dent would have been left to find more pliant executors of his will than 
they (to their high praise and lasting honor be it spoken) proved them- 
selves to be. It only remained for them to follow the example of Gov- 
ernor Reeder, and quit forever a party thus committed to outrage and 
wrong, or, at least, to refuse allegiance to its will and behests at the 
present juncture. 

The public sentiment of the country and of the world will sustain them 
with the plaudit, " avcII done, good and faithful servants." In the 
name of God and humanity, in the name of the Freedom-loving State 
which I in part represent on this floor, I thank them for what they have 
so far done. 

As cruel and barbarous as are the measures of border-ruffian control 
in Kansas already cited, I have even heard some argue their propriety 
and correctness, on the ground that Slavery was established by brute 
force ; that its continuance was guarantied by the Constitution of the 
United States ; and that that instrument necessarily perpetuated the 
right to use that force, to any extent necessary for its protection and 
maintenance, utterly regardless of all law to the contrary ! This 



8 

anomalous doctrine was new to me, and yet I cannot discover wliy it is 
not logical from the premises ; and it occurred to me that both the 
President and his predecessor must have entertained this same view ; 
for how can their administration of afiairs in Kansas be explained on 
any other principle ? 

The honorable Senator from Louisiana, the other day, said that the 
slave trade was guarantied by the Constitution for twenty years. The 
Supreme Court also advanced the same idea in arguing the Dred Scott 
case. Alluding, of course, to that clause which says, " the migration 
' or importation of such persons as any of the States now existing shall 
' think proper to admit, shall not bo prohibited by the Congress prior 
' to the year 1808," the court say, " the right of property in a slave is 
' distinctly and expressly affirmed in the Constitution. The right to 
' traffic in it, like an ordinary article of merchandise and property, was 
' guarantied to the citizens of the United States, in every State that 
' might desire it, for twenty years." Noav, Mr. President, with all 
deference to the great names who have put forth this argument, I must 
be permitted to say that I am not able to discover the least shadow of 
guarantee to Slavery, or the slave trade, in this clause of the Consti- 
tution. This prohibition was, in eftect, a refusal on the part of the 
States to confer on the new Government they were about to construct, 
jurisdiction over the slave trade until the year 1808. In the examina- 
tion of this subject, it should be borne in mind that the delegates of the 
Constitutional Convention represented the sovereignties of States, and 
were about establishing a new Government, and delegating to it certain 
powers of jurisdiction. The Constitution, as then drafted, would, with- 
out this provision have conferred immediate jurisdiction on Congress, as 
the tenth clause in the eighth section authorized Congress " to define and 
punish piracies and felonies on the high 'seas, and oflenccs agiinst the 
law of nations." So that all we can make out of this clause, as I un- 
derstand it, is merely the settlement of a -question of jurisdiction. A 
guarantee presupposes a pledge to aid, if necessary, in the accomplish- 
ment of some purpose. The Constitution contains no pledge, either on 
the part of Congress or the States, to engage in, or in any wise support, 
the slave trade. 

To illustrate more fully my meaning, suppose there had been another 
provision added to the Constitution, like this : that piracies and felonies 
on the high seas shall not be prohibited by Congress prior to the year 
1808 : no one, in such case, would contend that the Constitution guar- 
antied piracy and felony for twenty years ; and yet it seems to me there 
would be as much propriety in doing so, as in saying that it guarantied 
the slave trade for twenty years. But it is not my purpose to enter 



9 

into an extended argument on this subject : it belongs to another class 
of Senators, more competent to the task. Mr. President, I have, to 
congratulate myself and the friends of Freedom, that the leading states- 
men of the South have placed this question on higher ground than the 
Constitution — the ground ihut Slavery is ri^ht in itself. You say, and 
say correctly, that Slavery should be maintained in its integrity', or 
abandoned ; that if wrong, it ought to be abolished. Now, since you 
consent to go into a court of equity, I trust j'ou will not refuse to abide 
the verdict that may be rendered after a fair adjudication. You place 
great reliance on the opinion of the United States court in the Dred 
Scott case. In view of the admission that you are Avilling to abolish 
Slavery if it be wrong, independent of the Constitution, allow me to 
call the attention of Senators to a careful reading of this Dred Scott 
decision. The court, in arguing this case, say : 

"The language of the Declaration of Independence is equally con- 

• elusive. 

"It begins by declaring that 

" ' When in the course of human events it becomes necessary for one 

• people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with 
' another, and to assume among the Powers of the earth the separate 
'' and equal station to which the laws of nature and nature's God entitled 
' them, a decent respect for the opinions of mankind requires that they 
"■ should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.' 

"It then proceeds to say: 

" ' We hold these truths to be self-evident : that all men are created 
' equal ; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable 

• rights ; that among them is life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness ; 
' that to secure these riglits Governments arc instituted, deriving their 
■ just powers from the consent of tlie governed.' 

" The general words, above quoted, would seem to embrace the whole 
' human family; and, if they were used in a similar instrument at this 

• day, would be so understood." 

As much as to say, the morality of our day would give a literal con- 
struction to the Declaration of Independence, and secure freedom to all. 

Sir, this admission is creditable to the court, and pays a just tribute 
to the humanity of the age. It is an acknoAvledgment, by the highest 
judicial tribunal of the country, that the principles by which slavehold- 
ers retain this unfortunate class of men in bondage are incompatible 
with the moral sense of the American people. Here, then, Senators, in 
a court of equity, the decision is against you. It rejoices my heart, not 
only to hear the Supreme Court, but the great mass of the people, reit- 
erating those undying principles embodied in the Declaration of Indc- 



10 

pcndencc. Sir, the experiment of a free Government has not proved a 
failure. These principles are immortal ; they can never die. 

Mr. President, wc have indeed arrived at a most exciting and critical 
period in the history of this slave-extension controversy. The whole 
suhjcct is now rescued from the slimy atmo.fi;)here of compromises, and 
placed in the hands of men who are honest and determined in purpose. 
They will yield to no compromise that violates principle. We are now 
sure of a living issue, until a final, and, I trust, a happy termination of 
this question, which has so long debased the people and distracted the 
national councils. The issue seems to be fairly made and clearly under- 
stood — freedom of the people on one side ; despotic rule on the other. 
The Constitution you seek to adopt disfranchises a large majority of the 
citizens of Kansas by its test oaths. This feature alone makes it an 
anti-republican instrument. It was submitted in legal form for adop- 
tion or rejection. It was repudiated by four-fifths of the people. The 
facts are established by the President's own agents. With the permis- 
sion of the Senate, I will here read an extract from a letter of Governor 
Walker. The Governor says : 

"For the first time in our history, an effort is now made to force a 
' Constitution and Government upon an inchoate State, against the well- 
' known will of a large majority of its people. Nothing can be more clear 
' and conclusive than the evidence demonstrating the fact that an over- 
' whelming majority of the people of Kansas are opposed to the Lecomp- 
' ton Constitution. This is indicated by the disfranchisement of half the 
' counties of Kansas in the election of delegates to the Constitutional 
' Convention ; by the skeleton vote given to those delegates, averaging 
' not more than thirty for each ; by the withholding of the Constitution 
' by the Convention, against their well-known pledges, from the people ; 
' by the result of the ejection of the Territorial Legislature, in October 
' last, when both parties participated ; by the miserable frauds and for- 
' geries perpetrated by the minority, to supply the place of the real elect- 
' ors, and finally rendered certain by a majority of ten thousand against 
' the Constitution, in the election holden on the 4th of January last." 

" The most vital of all the rights of a State is tlie establishment of a 
' Constitution ; and if this right can be disregarded by Congress, the 
' whole doctrine of State and popular sovereignty is discarded and over- 
' thrown. In doing such an act, we are setting a most fatal precedent; 
' we arc undermining the very pillars upon which repose the whole 
' fabric of popular liberty. We are permitting a small minority to 
' supersede a majority in framin:^' a State Government, and Con:;ress is 
* becoming the ally and accomplice of that minority in overthrowing the 
' rights of the people. These are solemn and momentous questions ; 



11 

the real issue is, shall the minori-ty or the majority of the people of a 
State frame their Government'? That is a vital question ; it involves 
the precise difference between democracy and oligarchy, monarchy, or 
despotism. It is the first, and, I fear, the last step towards the 
overthroAY of our free institutions ; and if this can be done now, and 
by an authority so high as Congress, what will be the demand next 
made by the minority 1 Why, that they, the minority, shall control 
not only Kansas, but the Federal Government, under threats of over- 
throwing the Constitution and the Union. If submission is now 
yielded to this doctrine, it is very plain to me that the Federal Gov- 
ernment itself must pass into the hands of a minority, and that the 
great fundamental principle of the Constitution must be overthrown 
and subverted. I cannot, by a single vote, for a solitary moment, 
sanction a doctrine which must gradually undermine our system, ard 
lead directly to anarchy or despotism. 

" It is not the cause of Kansas alone on which we are now'Seliber- 
ating, but upon a great fundamental principle which is now to be sus- 
tained or subverted. That principle conies liome to the heart and 
judgment of every elector in the Republic. Shall the elective fran- 
chise become an empty form 1 Shall the votes of the majority prevail, 
or shall they be superseded by technical quibbles, unworthy the con- 
sideration of statesmen, or by an organized system of frauds and for- 
geries 1 Shall the most clear and palpable evidence, which would carry 
conviction to the breast of any honest judge or jury, he suppressed or 
superseded by crimes which should condemn their authors and accom- 
plices to disgrace and punishment ? There is a great moral as well 
as a political question involved in this controversy. We are asked, 
not only to sanction the overthrow of a great fundamental principle of 
public liberty and the Constitution, but to approve, also, a series of 
frauds and forgeries, the most palpable and the most wicked which 
have ever disgraced any age or country, and thus forfeit our own self- 
respect, and that of the whole civiHzed -world, wliicii must be the 
spectators of this infamy. If there be any crime Avhich is more 
atrocious than any other, it is the forgery of election returns, and 
especially in an election involving all the dearest rights of a free peo- 
ple, in the establishment of a State Government. It is now proved 
incontestably, by legal evidence, taken on oath before legislative com- 
mittees, that in four precincts only in Kansas, where more than three 
thousand votes were pretended to have been given, tliat four-fifths of 
the -whole w^ere entirely fictitious, and that the returns were forged 
and fraudulent. No man can or dare deny this testimony. From an 
intimate and personal knowledge of each and every one of these pre- 



12 

' cincts, I know tliat this testimony is.tnie; and yet wc are asked to 
' sanction a Constitution bas d upon crimes like these." * * * 

" But, force this Constitution upon the peopL' of Kansas now, against 
' thoii- will, and no mortal vision can penetrate the dark abyss in which 
' lie hidden the deep disasters noAV menacing Kansas and our country. 
' I cannot take this dark leap into such a vortex of crime and uncer- 
' tainty. If the people of Kansas submit, nevertheless the damning 
' truth will still remain, that the State will have been forced into the 
' Union against the will of her people. She would enter the Union, not 
' as the peer and equal of her sovereignties, but she would be driven 
' into the Union, disgraced by the chains of a usurping minority, and 
' covered all over with shame and degradation. The very parchment 
' on which her Constitution was written would be stained by crimes 
' and forgeries. The signet of the people would never have been affixed 
' to the instrument, but in its place a vile counterfeit would have been 
' substituted, there to remain forever upon our and her archives, as a 
' perpetual record of her disgrace and of our injustice. The thirty- 
' second star of our heretofore glorious constellation Avould not have 
' arisen above the horizon in all the brightness of new-born liberty, but 
' it would have come in shorn of its lustre, and casting its darkening 
' shadows over the receding glories of the Reiuiblic. The fatal exam- 
' pie never could be erased. We could never recall the past ; we could 
' never retrace our steps ; but onward, still onward and downward, our 
' movements would be toward that destiny which must ever attend out- 
' rage, crimes, and injustice. And why should wc encounter these 
' dreadful hazards'? What is unjust can never be expedient. Expc- 
' diency has been the plea of tyrants in every age and country. It has 
' placed and retained the crown upon the monarclrs brow. It has gov- 
' ernod the world by swords and bayonets. It has covered the world 
' with violence, fraud, and injustice." 

Permit me to read a short extract from a letter of Governor Wise — 
a Southerner and slaveholder. He says : 

" I have much to add to my Tammany and Philadelphia letters ; but 
' I have not the time and opportunity now to show that the fraud of the 
' elections in Kansas was nothing iu comparison to the Lecompton Con- 
' stitution itself. The question is, shall a pretended Constitution which 
' was not adopted by that Convention — for, on the contrary, it was sub- 
' mitted for adoption by the people — and which was not adopted by the 
' people, for they were not allowed to vote against it, be forced, by the 
' intervention of Congress, on a majority of the people, against their 
' sovereign will? Shall this be done, too, on the Bourbon doctrme of 
' legitimacy? And, if done, are the people to be driven to the extremity 



' of the Dorr doctrine of the Rhode Island case? It is autocratic, 
' aristocratic, oligarchy, and despotic, thus to constrain popular sov- 
' ereignty by the onus of legitimacy." 

In adopting this Constitution, then, you abandon the ballot-box, the 
voice of the people, and proceed to act on a rule known only to tyrants — 
that miglit makes right. Can you succeed, Senators, in this measure — 
a measure that seeks the overthrow of the doctrine of State rights and 
the great principles of the Constitution? I leave that question for the 
future to answer. 

But I will say this : that, if you pass the Lecompton Constitution, 
and force it on the people by the army of the United States, and the 
citizens of Kansas and the free States tamely submit, I shall be obliged 
to confess, with shame and humiliation, that the honorable Senator from 
South Carolina, in his recent speech, was correct in the assertion that 
a majority of the people of the free States are already slaves. 

The President says, pass this bill, and the people of Kansas have the 
means in their own hands to redress their grievances. How'? By swear- 
ing to a lie in swearing to support the Lecompton Constitution, which 
guaranties the right of property in man"? No citizen in Kansas who 
disbelieves this could take the oath without committing moral perjury. 
Let us look at the process. A Free State man, who believes that the New 
Testament inculcates the sentiment that all men are entitled to liberty, 
and that it is his duty, so far as he is able, to remove tlie heavy bur- 
dens from the oppressed, is required to take an oath that compels him 
to violate the very principles by which he swears. They must degrade 
themselves before they can be free ! Sir, this is the argument of the 
libertine — submit, and then be free ! This leads me, Mr. President, to 
say a word in regard to great public crimes which this Government has 
already committed, and which it now upholds. Look at the statute- 
book, and the decision of your courts, and you will see that we 
have drawn, by legislative enactment, a geographical line, and said to 
all who desire to engage in the slave trade on one side of this line : you 
may do so with impunity. On the other side of this line, all who dare 
to engage in this traffic shall suffer death as pirates ! Has not the 
Supreme Court just decreed that all the Territories between this and 
the Pacific shall be open to kidnapping and robbery, provided the vic- 
tims be of a certain race? Now, it should be observed tliat, while we 
are so regardless of the rights of humanity in the Territories, we are 
remarkably nice in protecting the rights of property. To illustrate : a 
colored man emigrates from Massachusetts 'to Kansas, buys a piece 
of land, settles on and improves it. Now, we have a law there saying: 
" All persons convicted of horse-stealing shall suffer confinement at hard 



14 

labor not exceeding seven years." Here, then, if the wliite man steal 
the colored man's horse, he is to be punished as a felon ; but, if he kid- 
nap the owner, or his family, it is right and laAvful, being guarantied by 
the Constitution ! Could anything be more absurdly wicked? Sir, such 
laws, and such a system of reasoning, insult the understanding and 
shock the moral sense of the world ! 

Mr. President, I cannot believe Congress will .pass this bill. And 
even should they pass it, it cannot be enforced. In my opinion, any 
attempt to do so would light up the flames of a civil war that would 
carry with it general devastation and ruin. 

And, sir, war, with all its attendant evils, would be far more endu- 
ralde than loss of honor and self-respect. But there will be no war, or 
if there should, it would be of short duration. No, sir, tliere are too 
many magazines under our feet to permit that ; I am yet hopeful of the 
future. And when I hear able and eloquent Senators advocating the 
extension of human bondage with such earnestness and sincerity of man- 
ner, [ am inclined to look upon them as I look upon Saul of Tarsus. I 
hope yet to see them like Paul, the Apostle of the Gentiles, lifting from 
degradation the down-trodden of our land. 

The path of duty is plain. Let the President withdraw the troops 
from Kansas. Let the people make their own Constitution, as other 
States have done. Let the Government cease to wage war against an 
innocent and unoffending people, and return to its duty — the protection 
of the weak against the invasion of the strong. Then, and not till then, 
shall we maintain justice at home, respect abroad, and fulfil the hopes 
of our fathers in illustrating that great and sublime trutli, that man is 
capable of self-government. 

Sir, truth is mighty, and will prevail. It will penetrate wliere bay- 
onets cannot enter. Neither the fugitive slave law. Government patron- 
age, nor the Dred Scott decision, can arrest its progress. In the lan- 
guage of an eminent statesman, " It will march on the horizon of the 
world, and it will conquer." 



